Co-op Academy Manchester

my review was too long for google, so i'm writing it here instead:

unfortunately, i'm a pupil at this school, and over the 5 years i have attended there has been a number of horrific incidents. this review cannot be as thorough as i would have liked it to be, on account of my anonymity and fear of being treated differently by SLT/higher staff.
first off, i am a SEN pupil - i suffer heart problems as well as a learning disability, and i have many friends with various health problems, physical and mental. we do not receive anywhere close to the support we require. i have been witness to students with adhd and autism be spoken to like little children, be placed in isolation, be excluded, and receive detentions, all for something they cannot control. if the child is overwhelmed or overstimulated, they will be looked down upon, sometimes even screamed/shouted at during meltdowns. if they are becoming irritated (which SEN pupils do, very easily), and make the SMART choice to leave the room to calm down and not disrupt their peers, they are punished for 'truanting'. if a child has a chronic illness which requires them to be sent home when in extreme pain, or other reasons, the attendance team will not even call their parents - if the child does it themselves, attendance will not authorise the absence, and will instead threaten parents with legal action, requesting illegal things: ie, access to the child's medical records, including all of their personal information, notes from any doctors appointment they've ever had, and other sensitive info.
a friend of mine was excluded for walking out of isolation; he has adhd, and was becoming overstimulated, with people teasing him IN THE ROOM, and the teacher denying him access to something as simple as a chromebook so that he could do his class work, considering there was none in the 'reflection' room. he walked out to avoid disruption, and getting himself into more trouble by having a meltdown - he was promptly logged for 'truanting', walking out, and excluded on the spot; of course, not before being reprimanded and screamed at for doing the right thing.
ive witnessed people who have been ran over by cars, have various eye conditions (including those with less than 10% vision, and are legally considered blind!), people having asthma attacks, and pupils in that much pain they cannot function properly, be ignored: told that they are 'milking it', they're 'overthinking it', and that they are 'fine'.
that isnt even the start of it!
all pupils must be escorted - yes, by that i mean having a TEACHER take them - to the toilet. we are not allowed to go when we need it, only when SLT finally decide to show up to take us, sometimes in which they dont even show up, and a separate callout has to be made!
on top of this, at breaks and lunches, ALL TOILETS ARE OUT OF BOUNDS. except for one, singular set of toilets, which have half-walls so that people can look in, and which half the stalls dont even have locks on them.
i am a 'different' pupil; i cannot use these toilets for reasons i cannot disclose (so i can stay anonymous). if i need the bathroom, i have to beg one of the teachers who will be found GUARDING the corridors, not allowing ANYONE to pass - even if they are going to their locker, to see a different teacher, or maybe even just wants to go to their lesson early - to let me through, so that i can go to the bathroom. apparently, these members of staff (cant even be CONSIDERED teachers, as they do not teach a subject, and their sole reason of employment is to guard corridors) are allowed to use their discretion when allowing pupils to pass through, however, to these sick adults, that means NOBODY, FOR ANY REASON is allowed to pass. disobeying will result in a detention, or worse.
'why is none of this recorded?' you may ask. the reason? pupils were doing just that: filming fights that happened (bi-weekly, across all year groups), filming teacher misconduct for their own protection, and being 'antisocial' (meaning that they use their BREAKS, their FREE TIME, on their mobile devices, even though all staff do the exact same thing on their iPads, personal phones, and computers). for this reason, use of phones, or even being seen checking the time on your phone, was banned. phones of any kind are no longer allowed on the premises, and are taken from students FORCEFULLY. i witnessed a child, a few years younger than me, clearly distressed and texting who i presumed was their parent, be TACKLED by SLT, PUSHED i AGAINST A LOCKER, just to take their phone off them. ive witnessed a student using their phone on break (sat down), a teacher sneaking up behind them and ripping the phone out of their hands from behind, while the phone was still unlocked. not only is this a huge invasion of privacy, but completely immoral.

IF YOUR CHILD IS NOT CISGENDERED(identify with the gender they were assigned at birth), MALE(female students are treated horrifically - all mental health problems and physical health problems being drawn off as 'hormones'. i thought we were past the age of diagnosing women with hysteria???), WITHOUT ANY DISABILITIES OF ANY KIND, AND HAS AN IRON IMMUNE SYSTEM - DO NOT SEND YOUR CHILD TO THIS SCHOOL.

those in charge, and those who serve literally no purpose to be in the school, ruin it for the rest. there are so many lovely teachers who take time out of their days to support students going through GCSE's, host free tutoring on their subject, and offer a shoulder to cry on for their students. there are so many teachers who go the extra mile, and are very compassionate about their kids.
it's heartbreaking for me to have to write such a bad review, because no doubt, it will reflect on these teachers too.


sincerely,
a disabled year 11 student, struggling to make it through the day, staying quiet in fear of my already financially struggling family receiving a £60-£120 fine.

Awful school, don’t care about mental health only care about how your uniform looks like it bows on your shoes

Should be sending the pupils home as there is too many cases in the school